<Begin Segment 10>

CO: Okay, let's go back to this policy speech that was made by the camp director.

HY: Oh, Wade Head was our project director and I think there was more than one block in attendance at that meeting at the mess hall. And the thing I remember him saying is that we would have to prepare ourselves to stay as long as five years. And you could just feel this discouragement sweeping over the crowd. But it turned out that we didn't have to stay that long. Let's see, we went in '42 and by '45 everybody was out, right? November? Yeah, that's when they chased the last people out. Even helped them find housing.

CO: So, give us your take on the mood of the people.

HY: Oh, bitter, bleak... I was pretty bitter myself. You know, because this went against everything we were taught in school that Americans did. Putting us away like that without even benefit of trial. And taking our property or making us sell it at a loss. Disrupting our whole lives. So I was really bitter, but then like my friendship with Wakako, maybe it wouldn't have been as sustaining as it has been without our sharing the camp experience, you know, and met a lot of people in camp that you wouldn't have met otherwise. So with that I don't know whether it never should have happened. [Laughs] Maybe it's something that had to happen.

CO: Really?

HY: I'm just saying that right now. Maybe when I think about it, I will say, "What did I say that for?" [Laughs] But that's how warmly I feel about the friendships that were made there.

[Interruption]

EO: What, what kinds of activities do you recall? Did you have good times? Bad times?

HY: Well, we were young and... well, we went to the weekly movies together. And Wakako and Jeannie and I especially, we were kind of exhibitionists and we'd go around in these colorful, colorful kneesocks and our peacoats and khaki jackets from World War I and kind of set ourselves apart from everybody else, you know. [Laughs] Well, I remember things that were kind of fun, but the whole reason for our being there was so wrong that it was kind of a way to pass the time, I guess, 'til we got out, if ever. And they had talent shows, so we'd go to talent shows and I remember your little cousin Ray being such a big hit with his "Manuela Boy." [Laughs] Yeah, uh-huh. So there were fun things. And the young guys would play baseball and basketball, and I don't know what else.

<End Segment 10> - Copyright © 1994, 2003 Densho and Emiko Omori. All Rights Reserved.